The 1991 French Grand Prix was a
Formula One motor race held at
Magny-Cours on 7 July 1991. It was the seventh race of the
1991 Formula One World Championship
The 1991 FIA Formula One World Championship was the 45th season of FIA Formula One motor racing and the 42nd season of the Formula One World Championship. It featured the 1991 Formula One World Championship for Drivers and the 1991 Formula One ...
, and the first French Grand Prix to be held at Magny-Cours. The 72-lap race was won by
Nigel Mansell
Nigel Ernest James Mansell, (; born 8 August 1953) is a British retired racing driver who won both the Formula One World Championship (1992) and the CART Indy Car World Series ( 1993). Mansell was the reigning F1 champion when he moved over ...
, driving a
Williams-
Renault, with local driver
Alain Prost second in a
Ferrari
Ferrari S.p.A. (; ) is an Italian luxury sports car manufacturer based in Maranello, Italy. Founded by Enzo Ferrari (1898–1988) in 1939 from the Alfa Romeo racing division as ''Auto Avio Costruzioni'', the company built its first car in ...
and
Ayrton Senna third in a
McLaren
McLaren Racing Limited is a British motor racing team based at the McLaren Technology Centre in Woking, Surrey, England. McLaren is best known as a Formula One constructor, the second oldest active team, and the second most successful Formul ...
-
Honda.
Pre-race
The French Grand Prix had moved from the
Circuit Paul Ricard near Marseille to the
Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours in the centre of France, to mixed reviews. There were no changes in the driver line-up, but the
Footwork team had decided to abandon the disastrous
Porsche
Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG, usually shortened to Porsche (; see #Pronunciation, below), is a German automobile manufacturer specializing in high-performance sports cars, SUVs and sedans, headquartered in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, Germany ...
V12 engine project in favour of a return to Ford engines, while Ferrari introduced a new car, the
643
__NOTOC__
Year 643 (Roman numerals, DCXLIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. The denomination 643 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno D ...
.
Qualifying
Pre-qualifying report
In the Friday morning pre-qualification session,
Andrea de Cesaris was fastest in the
Jordan for the second time this season. He was four tenths of a second faster than
JJ Lehto in the
Dallara, with
Olivier Grouillard third fastest for
Fondmetal at his home race, the second time in a row the Frenchman had pre-qualified. The fourth pre-qualifier was
Bertrand Gachot
Bertrand Jean Gachot (born 23 December 1962) is a French former racing driver. Gachot enjoyed some success in the junior formulae, winning titles in Formula Ford before progressing through Formula 3 and Formula 3000, reaching Formula One in 198 ...
in the other Jordan.
Those failing to progress to the main qualifying sessions included the other Dallara of
Emanuele Pirro in fifth, just a couple of tenths slower than Gachot. The two
Modena Lambos were sixth and seventh, with
Nicola Larini outpacing
Eric van de Poele, and bottom of the time sheets was
Pedro Chaves in the
Coloni. This was the seventh consecutive Grand Prix in which the Portuguese driver had failed to pre-qualify.
Pre-qualifying classification
Qualifying report
In qualifying, local driver
Alain Prost impressed and was set to score Ferrari's first pole position of the season, but in the dying minutes
Riccardo Patrese in the Williams-Renault came through to pip the French driver to the pole. Championship leader
Ayrton Senna spun on Olivier Grouillard's oil on his final qualifying attempt and had to settle for third alongside
Nigel Mansell
Nigel Ernest James Mansell, (; born 8 August 1953) is a British retired racing driver who won both the Formula One World Championship (1992) and the CART Indy Car World Series ( 1993). Mansell was the reigning F1 champion when he moved over ...
in the second Williams, with the rest of the top ten starting spots occupied by
Gerhard Berger,
Jean Alesi,
Nelson Piquet,
Roberto Moreno,
Maurício Gugelmin, and the impressive
Gianni Morbidelli in a Minardi.
Qualifying classification
Race
Race report
At the start Patrese made a disastrous start and dropped to 10th position on lap 1, so Prost led from Mansell, Senna, Berger, and Alesi, while
Bertrand Gachot
Bertrand Jean Gachot (born 23 December 1962) is a French former racing driver. Gachot enjoyed some success in the junior formulae, winning titles in Formula Ford before progressing through Formula 3 and Formula 3000, reaching Formula One in 198 ...
spun off on the first lap in his Jordan. Berger was the first of the big boys to go out when his engine failed on lap 6, his third consecutive retirement due to engine problems. Patrese started another recovery drive by passing both Piquet and Morbidelli in one fell swoop when Morbidelli botched an overtaking attempt, taking himself out of the running. At the front Mansell pressured Prost and on Lap 21 he made his move taking advantage of traffic to out-brake the French star going into the hairpin. Mansell slowly pulled away but problems at his first tyre stop dropped him back behind Prost. Mansell once again closed on Prost and the two battled it out until Mansell finally managed to take advantage of traffic, again, and took the lead on Lap 54 by this time outbraking Prost around the outside at the hairpin. Mansell pulled away and scored his first win of the season, Prost was second followed by Senna, Alesi, Patrese, and de Cesaris.
This was the 17th win of Mansell's career, thus breaking the record of Grand Prix wins by an English driver, previously held by
Stirling Moss
Sir Stirling Craufurd Moss (17 September 1929 – 12 April 2020) was a British Formula One racing driver. An inductee into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame, he won 212 of the 529 races he entered across several categories of comp ...
.
Race classification
Championship standings after the race
;Drivers' Championship standings
;Constructors' Championship standings
*
References
{{F1GP 90-99
French Grand Prix
Grand Prix
Grand Prix ( , meaning ''Grand Prize''; plural Grands Prix), is a name sometimes used for competitions or sport events, alluding to the winner receiving a prize, trophy or honour
Grand Prix or grand prix may refer to:
Arts and entertainment ...
French Grand Prix